Chapter 1- No life for a sailorSweat poured down the young man's brow as he hammered the final nail in the final plank before standing back and congratulating himself on a job well done. A former sailor, Bat had been forced into another trade by the lack of work and lack of money to pay crew or buy a vessel, so his lot in life had become repairing houses and walkways damaged by wind and sea in the floating city of Flotsam, it was a living, but no life for a sailor.Bat had served on his father's ship from a very young age, he was, in fact, born at sea on the ship named after his mother, tha HMS Violet tendencies, so named for his mother's propensity for low levels of tolerance for drunken sailors. At the age of 17, Bats father, Davian allowed him to join as a full fledged member of the crew, not a tall lad, but strongly built after years of hard work he was perfectly formed to a life at sea, and had the charisma and quick wits befitting his father's son.For a year now, Bat had been ashore doing odd jobs here and there, dreaming of the day he could set foot on a ship again, enquiring with every freighter, gondola and would-be pirate that passed through the port-city, desperate for the wind in his face and the sweet scent of sea water on the breeze.It was once such day when Bat was daydreaming in the middle of a job, no doubt sword fighting with a wicked pirate captain or escaping the clutches of some great sea creature, his boss yelled at him in his deep, gravelly voice befitting a man with a life of hard work behind him," Bat lad, get yer head outta the clouds n move yersen o'er ere, someone's ta see yer"With that, Bat was immediately shaken, who could it be? Near every citizen of Flotsam knew him, but to take an interest during a job? Must be someone with a busted walkway, he thought. As Bat approached his boss, he couldn't help but stare at the man with him, Bat had to look quite far upwards to look the man in the eye before listening to what he had to say."Bartholomew C Rangobear?" The large man said in a voice that seemed to erupt from the depths of the ocean itself."You've found him, sir, how can I be of service?" Bat, not usually a nervous lad, had to fight to keep back the stammer keeping him from looking confident in the face of such a mountain of a man."A friendly proposition from a local businessperson, come to the Beak and Toe after your shift for discussions and a couple of drinks,"Bat was utterly thrown by this, it must be a contractor with a big repair job for him! This was the first time Bat had been excited about repair work, thoughts were swimming through his mind, would he be given his own team to lead? Would he get to repair a mighty ship, perhaps? He could hardly even keep his head in his daydreams for the rest of the day, he was itching to run home once his boss told him the shift was over.Bat threw on some clothes he thought were appropriate to wear while talking to an independent contractor, which took him longer than he thought. He ran to the Beak and Toe pub and nearly vomited at the smell that hit him as soon as he opened the door, rotting wood mixed with fermented urine with a sprinkling of pig muck, perhaps.Bat had only just managed to hold his stomach in long enough to set foot into the ghastly place when he felt a steak-like hand upon his shoulder and the same erupting voice as before,"This way, if you please, Mr.Rangobear,"Bat clearly had no choice as it would have taken him most of his strength to fight off the one hand that was pushing him.He was led into a dimly lit room with odd incenses filling his nostrils and handily covering up the repugnant smell of the pub itself, a short figure sat at a desk, lazily scribbling at some parchment with an archaic looking quill that had clearly seen better days, grunted something at the large man behind Bat, after which he closed the heavy wooden door making it even harder to see what was going on, and making the incense cloud Bats thoughts further.The short figure eventually put down the quill and started fiddling with a gas lamp on the desk, making the room just a little brighter, though Bat could still only just see the person's face.A weary sounding voice, small yet obviously powerful, came from the darkness,"Well, come a little closer, Bartholomew, let Madame Feng have a little look at you,"Bat shuffled forward toward the desk, not having a clue who Madame Feng is but not wanting to disappoint.As he got close, Bat saw a short, dumpy woman wearing an exotic gown that seemed to have been made for someone a little smaller, and with white powder makeup with little coloured details on her face. Madame Feng reached for a small pair of round pince-nez before looking upon Bat with something between contemplation and barely concealed contempt. She let out a great sigh before finally speaking,"Young Master Rangobear," she said while fiddling with the old quill,"You are not happy with your current lot, is this correct?"How could she possibly know that? Bat thought to himself, he certainly hadn't met her before and she didn't seem the sort to associate with his usual customers."I will get to the good part, Bartholomew, I knew your father," she said, putting great length and emphasis into the vowels of her words," He was a good sailor, you know this, and you sailed with him since you were very young, the spray runs in your veins, boy, repairing houses?! Pah! Flotsam is no place for son of Davian Rangobear! No, no, I have a better idea...." Madame Feng stood up, although she didn't get much taller, and bustled over to a bookshelf before turning back to Bat and looking at him like he'd just snuck up on her." Oh yes, you....let me see" She got a ragged piece of parchment out and beckoned Bat over to look upon it. What Bat saw blew his mind, caused his thoughts to race trying to think of what Madame Feng could possibly have in mind for him. It was a picture with technical details, he couldn't even read the figures or words he was so excited, it was what he'd dreamed of ever since his father disappeared, it was a ship.Chapter 2 - 'Captain' Bat Rangobear?Bat was struggling for words to say when Madame Feng interjected,"Yes, Bartholomew, this is for you, she is not as mighty a vessel as your father captained, but we all have to start somewhere, don't we?"Bat could only ask himself questions, he couldn't get any words to come out of his mouth and so stood there open mouthed.Madame Feng again took the lead,"You will sail to the port of Domos where you will pick up a shipment of ice coal, blasted stuff, I cannot wait until it goes out of fashion, blue flames, pah! Ah yes, then you shall take it to Grusk, the...far away, port to the southwest of Domos, but first! You must find your own crew! You have 4 days before the shipment is due, so do not tarry, young Bartholomew, I have a good feeling about you,"

I believe the name of Bat's father's ship was shamelessly stolen from someones thread on these very boards, so if it's yours and you don't want me to use it then please let me know.

Thanks again for your kind words. Unfortunately between work and actual modelling my writing hobby has fallen by the wayside for now but I'll try and get some more done when I have a spare minute between paint coats!

I'm always happy to give a word or two of encouragement. Fear not, you'll return to the story. There comes a time when the need to create outweighs more mundane considerations...like eating & sleeping.

_________________"I'd NEVER join a club that would have me as a member." Groucho Marx